Dynamic generation of database views and class objects for providing access to repository data

ABSTRACT

Techniques for dynamically generating database views and class objects for allowing access to domain data stored in a repository are provided. A computer-implemented method, a system, and/or a machine-readable medium storing instructions executable by one or more processors may include generating a database view and a class object using metadata included in a domain model, and retrieving domain data from a repository using the database view and the class object. For example, a method may include obtaining a domain model from a repository, the domain model including metadata corresponding to a set of domain data stored in the repository, generating a database view of a subset of the set of domain data using the metadata, generating a class object for the subset using the metadata, generating mapping information, and retrieving the subset of domain data from the repository using the database view, the class object, and the mapping information.

FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to providing access to domaindata stored in a repository, and more particularly to techniques fordynamically generating database views and class objects for providingaccess to domain data stored in a repository.

BACKGROUND

Data repositories may store data using generic schemas with looselytyped tables that have no clear correspondences among related data andmetadata. For example, in an effort to facilitate configurability andmodel evolution, repository products may provide a meta-model with aloosely typed schema (e.g., no relational correspondences among relateddata and metadata) for describing assets registered in the repository.Storing the data using a loosely typed schema may provide the benefit ofallowing customers to make changes to the models that are shipped withthe repository by adding their own attributes, adding new metadataentity types, and/or making other changes. However, relational tools maynot work on a repository that uses a loosely typed schema to store datain the repository. For example, reporting tools may not be capable ofreporting on metadata stored using a loosely typed schema. Furthermore,the generic nature of the repository tables may make it difficult for auser to directly query the repository data using specific terminologythat was used to create a model of the repository data.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Techniques are described for dynamically generating database views andclass objects for providing access to domain data stored in arepository. For example, database views, class objects, and mappinginformation between each database view and corresponding class objectmay be generated using metadata from the repository. The database views,class objects, and mapping information may be used to process a userquery to retrieve data from the repository that corresponds to the userquery.

In some examples, a user may create a domain model that defines data theuser wants stored in a repository. A domain model may be created for anytype of data, such as software programs, music data, service data,and/or any other type of data a user wishes to define. The domain modelmay include metadata defining the domain data stored in the repositoryaccording to the user-defined domain model. For example, the metadatamay define different domain types (e.g., types of software, types ofmusic, types of services, and/or any other type that the user maydefine) and attribute definitions (e.g., characteristics of each type)for the data. The domain model may be defined by the user usingterminology specific to the user's preferences. However, for reasonsdescribed herein, the domain data and metadata may be stored in therepository in a generic structure using loosely typed tables with nocorrespondence to the domain model (e.g., no relational correspondencesbetween the data, the domain types, and the attributes of each domaintype). In order to allow the user to query the domain data usingdomain-specific terms, the metadata included in the domain model may beused to dynamically generate database views that represent the data in aformat specific to the domain model. The metadata may also be used todynamically generate class objects that correspond to the datarepresented by the database views. For example, a database view and aclass object may be generated for each domain type. Mapping informationbetween each database view and a corresponding class object may then begenerated.

In some examples, the database views, class objects, and mappinginformation may be used to process a user query to retrieve data fromthe repository that corresponds to the user query. The user query is interms specific to the domain model created by the user. For example, adomain type may be determined from the user query. A class object forthe domain type may be identified, and the mapping information for theclass object may be used to identify the corresponding database view.The database view is then queried in order to retrieve the data that thedatabase view represents. Accordingly, a user may query the genericallystored data in the repository using terms specific to the user's domainmodel.

According to at least one example, a computer-implemented method may beprovided that includes obtaining a domain model from a repository, thedomain model including metadata corresponding to a set of domain datastored in the repository. The method may further include generating adatabase view of a subset of the set of domain data using the metadata,the database view including a query statement referencing the subset ofdomain data. The method may further include generating a class objectfor the subset of domain data using the metadata and generating mappinginformation by mapping the generated database view to the generatedclass object. The method may further include retrieving the subset ofdomain data from the repository using the database view, the classobject, and the mapping information.

In some embodiments, the metadata of the domain model defines one ormore domain types and one or more attribute definitions for the set ofdomain data stored in the repository.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises generating a classobject and a database view for each domain type of the one or moredomain types. In some embodiments, the method further comprises:receiving, by the computing device, a user query for the subset ofdomain data; determining, by the computing device, a domain type fromthe user query, the domain type corresponding to a domain type of thesubset of domain data defined by the metadata; determining, by thecomputing device, the class object for the subset of data based on thedomain type determined from the user query; determining, by thecomputing device, the database view of the subset of data using themapping information between the class object and the database view; andperforming a query on the database view to retrieve the subset of domaindata from the repository. In some embodiments, the method furthercomprises: translating the user query into a structured query languagestatement using the class object, wherein performing the query on thedatabase view includes performing the structured query languagestatement on the database view to retrieve the subset of domain datafrom the repository; and outputting the subset of domain data as aresult of the user query.

In some embodiments, the query statement is performed on the set ofdomain data stored in the repository to retrieve the subset of domaindata referenced by the database view. In some embodiments, the querystatement includes a structured query language statement.

In some embodiments, the set of domain data is stored in the repositoryin a generic structure with no correspondence to the domain model, andwherein the database view represents the subset of domain data as avirtual table with a specific structure corresponding to the domainmodel.

In some embodiments, a system may be provided that includes a memorystoring a plurality of instructions and one or more processors. The oneor more processors may be configurable to obtain a domain model from arepository, the domain model including metadata corresponding to a setof domain data stored in the repository. The one or more processors maybe further configurable to generate a database view of a subset of theset of domain data using the metadata, the database view including aquery statement referencing the subset of domain data. The one or moreprocessors may be further configurable to generate a class object forthe subset of domain data using the metadata and to generate mappinginformation by mapping the generated database view to the generatedclass object. The one or more processors may be further configurable toretrieve the subset of domain data from the repository using thedatabase view, the class object, and the mapping information.

In some embodiments, a machine-readable medium storing a plurality ofinstructions executable by one or more processors may be provided,wherein the plurality of instructions may include instructions thatcause the one or more processors to obtain a domain model from arepository, the domain model including metadata corresponding to a setof domain data stored in the repository. The instructions may furtherinclude instructions that cause the one or more processors to generate adatabase view of a subset of the set of domain data using the metadata,the database view including a query statement referencing the subset ofdomain data. The instructions may further include instructions thatcause the one or more processors to generate a class object for thesubset of domain data using the metadata and to generate mappinginformation by mapping the generated database view to the generatedclass object. The instructions may further include instructions thatcause the one or more processors to retrieve the subset of domain datafrom the repository using the database view, the class object, and themapping information.

The foregoing, together with other features and embodiments, will becomemore apparent upon referring to the following specification, claims, andaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Illustrative embodiments of the present invention are described indetail below with reference to the following drawing figures:

FIG. 1 shows an example of a loosely typed repository schema includingtables with domain model metadata and domain data in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a system forstoring and querying domain model metadata and domain data, inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 3 shows an example of a database view in accordance with anembodiment.

FIG. 4 shows an example of a query statement defining a database view inaccordance with an embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process forgenerating and registering database views, class objects, and mappinginformation.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process for usingdatabase views, class objects, and mapping information for processing auser query.

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a process forretrieving domain data using database views, class objects, and mappinginformation.

FIG. 8 depicts a simplified diagram of a distributed system forimplementing one or more of the embodiments.

FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of components of a systemenvironment by which services provided by the components of anembodiment system may be offered as cloud services, in accordance withan embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary computer system, in which variousembodiments of the present invention may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofembodiments of the invention. However, it will be apparent that variousembodiments may be practiced without these specific details. The figuresand description are not intended to be restrictive.

The ensuing description provides exemplary embodiments only, and is notintended to limit the scope, applicability, or configuration of thedisclosure. Rather, the ensuing description of the exemplary embodimentswill provide those skilled in the art with an enabling description forimplementing an exemplary embodiment. It should be understood thatvarious changes may be made in the function and arrangement of elementswithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as setforth in the appended claims.

Specific details are given in the following description to provide athorough understanding of the embodiments. However, it will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the embodiments maybe practiced without these specific details. For example, circuits,systems, networks, processes, and other components may be shown ascomponents in block diagram form in order not to obscure the embodimentsin unnecessary detail. In other instances, well-known circuits,processes, algorithms, structures, and techniques may be shown withoutunnecessary detail in order to avoid obscuring the embodiments.

Also, it is noted that individual embodiments may be described as aprocess which is depicted as a flowchart, a flow diagram, a data flowdiagram, a structure diagram, or a block diagram. Although a flowchartmay describe the operations as a sequential process, many of theoperations can be performed in parallel or concurrently. In addition,the order of the operations may be re-arranged. A process is terminatedwhen its operations are completed, but could have additional steps notincluded in a figure. A process may correspond to a method, a function,a procedure, a subroutine, a subprogram, etc. When a process correspondsto a function, its termination can correspond to a return of thefunction to the calling function or the main function.

The term “machine-readable medium” includes, but is not limited to,portable or non-portable storage devices, optical storage devices, andvarious other mediums capable of storing, containing or carryinginstruction(s) and/or data. A machine-readable medium may include anon-transitory medium in which data can be stored and that does notinclude carrier waves and/or transitory electronic signals propagatingwirelessly or over wired connections. Examples of a non-transitorymedium may include, but are not limited to, a magnetic disk or tape,optical storage media such as compact disk (CD) or digital versatiledisk (DVD), flash memory, memory or memory devices. A code segment ormachine-executable instructions may represent a procedure, a function, asubprogram, a program, a routine, a subroutine, a module, a softwarepackage, a class, or any combination of instructions, data structures,or program statements. A code segment may be coupled to another codesegment or a hardware circuit by passing and/or receiving information,data, arguments, parameters, or memory contents. Information, arguments,parameters, data, etc. may be passed, forwarded, or transmitted via anysuitable means including memory sharing, message passing, token passing,network transmission, etc.

Furthermore, embodiments may be implemented by hardware, software,firmware, middleware, microcode, hardware description languages, or anycombination thereof. When implemented in software, firmware, middlewareor microcode, the program code or code segments to perform the necessarytasks may be stored in a machine readable medium. A processor(s) mayperform the necessary tasks.

Systems depicted in some of the figures may be provided in variousconfigurations. In some embodiments, the systems may be configured as adistributed system where one or more components of the system aredistributed across one or more networks in a cloud computing system.

An enterprise repository system may allow a user to create a domainmodel that defines data the user wants stored in a repository. Forexample, a domain model may be created in the form of an UML (UnifiedModeling Language) Class diagram using a UML modeling tool, such asJDeveloper by Oracle International Corporation. The domain model mayinclude UML Classes, UML properties, and UML associations. Each UMLClass represents a domain type, each UML Property represents anattribute of a domain type, and each UML Association represents arelationship between domain types. In some embodiments, modeling domainsusing UML may provide a graphical or otherwise visual depiction of thedomain concepts, their metadata, and how they are related to oneanother.

A user may create a domain model for any type of data. For example, adomain model can be created for modeling software programs, music data,service data, and/or any other type of data a user wants to define. Thedomain model may be defined by the user using terminology specific tothe user's preferences. For example, the user may create a domain modelfor a collection of music, including compact discs (CDs), digitalversatile discs (DVDs), records, MPEG audio files (MP3s), tapes, or anyother medium for storing music. Each of the items may be defined usingspecific terminology, such as title, artist names, track names, or thelike. However, the domain model and/or the underlying data may be storedin the repository in a generic structure using loosely typed tables withno correspondence to the domain model (e.g., no relationalcorrespondences between the different descriptions or definitions ofeach item stored in the repository). There are advantages to storing thedata in the repository in a loosely typed manner. For example, users maymake changes to metadata models that are shipped with the repository byadding their own attributes, adding new metadata entity types, and/ormaking other related changes. A disadvantage of generically storing thedomain model and data includes difficulty for a user to directly querythe data in the repository using the specific terminology they used tocreate the model of their domain data. Furthermore, relational tools maynot work on a repository that uses a loosely typed schema to store datain the repository. For example, reporting tools may not be capable ofreporting on metadata stored using a loosely typed schema. Accordingly,various techniques are needed to provide ways of querying and usingmetadata and data stored generically in the repository as if the datawas stored in a structure corresponding to the domain model.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a group of loosely typed tables 102,104, 106, and 108 with information related to a domain model thatdefines a set of domain data stored in a repository. The tables may bepart of a schema of the repository. The examples provided in FIG. 1relate to a domain model defining music items, such as CDs, DVDs,records, MP3s, tapes, and/or the like. While embodiments described inFIG. 1 include reference to music data and metadata, one of ordinaryskill in the art would understand that the principles described hereinapply equally to other types of data, including software, services,consumer electronic products, inventory of a business, and/or the like.

The tables 102 and 104 include domain model metadata that defines ordescribes domain data included in tables 106 and 108. For example, themetadata in Database Types table 102 may define different domaindatabase types, such as Type 1—CD, Type 2—DVD, and Type 3—Record. One ofordinary skill in the art will understand that other exemplary domaintypes may be defined, such as a third type for MP3s, a fourth type fortapes, and/or the like. In some embodiments, the database types may bedefined by the user when the user is creating the domain model. In someembodiments, the user may select from a set of predefined types thatrelate to a category of the domain data. For example, the user may bepresented with a list of different music storage media (e.g., CD, DVD,record, MP3, tape, or the like) and the user may select the applicabletypes.

The Database Attrib_Defns table 104 includes metadata defining attributedefinitions for different characteristics of each domain database type.The attribute definitions may include Attribute 1—Title, Attribute2—Artist, Attribute 3—Track. One of ordinary skill in the art willunderstand that other exemplary domain types may be defined, such aslength of album, length of track, names of all band members, bonusmaterial (e.g., videos of interviews with the artist(s), and/or thelike. In some embodiments, the attribute definitions are defined by theuser when the user is creating the domain model. In some embodiments,the attribute definitions may be automatically created based on thedefined domain database types. For example, if the type is a CD, allrelevant attributes for a CD may be given an attribute definition (e.g.,title, artist, track, track length, or the like). A user may then add ordelete any attribute definitions that the user wants to include or doesnot want included in their domain model.

The actual domain data is included in tables 106 and 108. DatabaseInstances table 106 includes instances of each domain database type. Forexample, the data for the CDs (Type 1), DVDs (Type 2), and Records (Type3) that are included in the user's domain are stored in the DatabaseInstances table 106. While examples of instances are shown to includeCD1 (Type 1), DVD1 (Type 2), DVD2 (Type 2), etc., one of ordinary skillin the art will understand that the table 106 may include all instancesof each domain database type. In some embodiments, more than one tablemay be used to store the database instances.

Database Attrib_Values table 108 includes the data corresponding to eachattribute definition defined in the Database Attrib_Defns table 104. Forexample, the title data for each instance defined using attribute 1 isstored in table 108, such as CD1 Artist and CD3 Artist. While specificexamples of attribute values are shown in FIG. 1, one of ordinary skillin the art will understand that the table 108 may include all attributevalues of each database instance stored in table 106. In someembodiments, more than one table may be used to store the attributevalues.

The data and metadata of the domain model is defined using terminologyspecific to the user's preferences. As a result, certain data andmetadata stored in the repository relates to other data and metadata.For example, the metadata and data corresponding to CD1 is related.However, as illustrated in FIG. 1, the domain model metadata in tables102 and 104 and the domain data stored in tables 106 and 108 is storedin a generic structure using loosely typed tables with no correspondenceto the structure defined by the domain model. For example, therepository does not include a separate table for each database type withcolumns and rows including the instances and attribute values for eachtype. Rather, all of the metadata (database types and attributedefinitions) and all of the data (database instances and databaseattribute values) are stored in different tables with no relationalcorrespondence to related data and/or metadata as defined by the domainmodel.

There are various advantages to storing the metadata and data in therepository using the loosely typed, generic structure of tables 102,104, 106, and 108. One advantage is that a repository using such ageneric table structure allows the database types, their attributes, andtheir associations with one another to be dynamically modified. Forexample, hierarchical types can be supported with parent and childtypes. For example, attributes and associations of a database type maybe declared on the database type and may be inherited by child typesfrom parent types. Another advantage is that database type extensionsmay be supported to allow users to attach additional attributes and/orassociations to existing database types. Hierarchical types and typeextensions are both difficult to implement in a database schema that isnot loosely typed. For example, a user query would need to be rewrittento not only execute against the user specified table but also againstall tables representing child types. Furthermore, storing data in aDatabase Instances table 106 allows the system to perform batch insert,update, and/or delete operations for several database instances,regardless of their type. In the event type-specific tables were usedwhere each type was stored in its own table, the insert, update, anddelete operations would need to be broken up into multiple separatestructured query language (SQL) statements, one for each instance typebeing processed.

Accordingly, various techniques are described herein for querying andusing the metadata and data stored generically in the repository as ifthe data was stored in a structure corresponding to the domain model.For example, the metadata of the domain model may be used to dynamicallygenerate database views and class objects that may be used to allow auser to query or otherwise utilize the domain data using domain-specificterms. Various embodiments relating to dynamic generation of databaseviews and class objects will now be described below with reference toFIGS. 2-9.

FIG. 2 illustrates a system 200 for storing and querying domain modelmetadata and domain data, in accordance with an embodiment. Variouscomponents of system 200 may dynamically generate database views andclass objects. The database views and class objects may be used by thesystem 200 to process a user query 238 that is in domain-specific termsfor querying domain data 214 that is stored in a repository 242 using ageneric, loosely typed storage structure, such as that illustrated inFIG. 1.

A database view includes a query statement that represents thegenerically stored domain data in a format specific to the domain model.FIG. 3 shows an example of a database view illustrated in a tableformat. While the database view 300 is shown as a table for illustrativepurposes, there may not be any actual data or metadata stored in thedatabase view 300. Rather, the database view 300 may include a querystatement that represents certain subsets of the data stored in therepository 242. For example, the database view 300 may include astructured query language (SQL) statement that defines a logical orvirtual table representing a subset of the repository data. The querystatement defining the database view 300 may be stored in memory and maybe used to retrieve the data that is represented by the view 300 fromthe repository 242.

The system 200 may dynamically generate a database view for eachdatabase type defined by the metadata stored in the Database Types table102 illustrated in FIG. 1. For example, the database view 300 representsthe data relating to the database instances of database Type 1 (CDs) andthe attribute values of each of the Type 1 instances. The database view300 represents the Type 1 instances and attribute values in a stronglytyped, relational structure according to the domain model created by auser (e.g., user 202). For example, each row is dedicated to aparticular instance of Type 1, such as CD1, CD2, and CD3. Further, eachcolumn is dedicated to an attribute value for the Type 1 instances. As aresult, the database view 300 is structured in a way that all relateddata and metadata may be referenced in a single virtual table.

A class object may include object-oriented code that is mapped to datafrom relational databases using object-relational mapping. An example ofa class object is a Java object or Java class. An applicationprogramming interface (API), such as a Java Persistence API (JPA), maybe used to perform object-relational mapping. Examples ofimplementations of JPA may include EclipseLink, Hibernate, or ApacheOpenJPA. The system 200 may map, store, update and retrieve data fromrelational databases to class objects and vice versa. JPA permits thesystem 200 to work directly with class objects rather than with SQLstatements. The system 200 may dynamically generate a class object foreach database type defined by the metadata stored in the Database Typestable 102 illustrated in FIG. 1. The user query 238 may be in a JPAformat. As explained in more detail below, the class objects may be usedto translate the user query 238 from a JPA-related format (e.g., JavaPersistence Query Language (JPQL) format, or the like) to a SQL formatin order to query against a related database view. For example, JPAtooling, such as EclipseLink, may translate a user query (e.g.,specified in a JPQL form) into a SQL query. JPQL is an object orientedquery language with a syntax similar to SQL, but the user specifies thequery in terms of Java class or Java object semantics. In one example,instead of referencing a relational table name in the FROM clause of aSQL query, the user may specify a Java class name in the FROM clause ofthe JQPL query. In another example, instead of referencing a relationalcolumn name in the SELECT or WHERE clause of a SQL query, the user mayreference the field name(s) of the Java class for the JQPL query. Inthese examples, the SQL query translated from the user JPQL query maythen be executed against a database view. Accordingly, two queries maybe used to retrieve the data, the translated user query and the querystatement defining the database view. The translated user query is usedto query against the database view, and the query statement defining thedatabase view is then used to retrieve the data in the repository 242that is represented by the database view.

Returning to the system 200 of FIG. 2, a user 202 may create a domainmodel by defining various data descriptions 212 for a set of domain data210 that the user wishes to store in a repository 242. A domain modelgenerator 204 may receive as input the domain data 210 and/or the datadescriptions 212. The domain model generator 204 may then generate adomain model 216. The domain model 216 includes metadata defining thedomain data 210 according to the data descriptions 212 provided by theuser 202. The domain model generator 204 may generate the domain model216 using only the data descriptions 212 or using the domain data 210and the data descriptions 212. An example of a domain model generator204 may include JDeveloper by Oracle International Corporation.

The domain data 210 and the domain model 216 are provided from thedomain model generator 204 to the repository 242 for further processing.For example, the domain data 210 and the domain model 216 may beregistered in a registry 206. The domain data 210 and/or the domainmodel 216 may be stored in data store 236. Data store 236 may includepersistent storage for storing the domain data 210 and metadata ofdomain model 216. The registry 216 may access the domain model 216 fromwithin registry 216 and/or from data store 236 in order to providemetadata to various components of the system 200 for dynamicallycreating database views and class objects.

A domain type engine 220 may obtain metadata 218 from the registry 206and may determine one or more domain types 218 defined by the metadata218. For example, with reference to FIG. 1, the domain type engine 220may determine that various types are defined, such as a Type 1—CD, aType 2—DVD, and a Type 3—Record. One of ordinary skill in the art willunderstand that other exemplary domain types may be defined, such as atype for MP3s, a type for tapes, and/or the like.

The domain type engine 220 may provide the domain types 222 and themetadata 218 to the class object generator 224 and the database viewgenerator 226. In some embodiments, metadata 218 may be obtained by theclass object generator 224 and the database view generator 226 directlyfrom the registry 206 and/or the data store 236. In such embodiments,the class object generator 224 and the database view generator 226 maydetermine the domain types 222 using the metadata 218. A database viewand a class object may be generated for each of the domain types 222determined by the domain type engine 220, the class object generator224, and/or the database view generator 226. One of ordinary skill inthe art will understand that database views and class objects may begenerated for data and/or metadata other than domain database types. Forexample, a database view and a class object may be generated for eachattribute definition or for a group of attribute definitions (e.g., alltracks of a CD). As another example, a database view and a class objectmay be generated for each instance of a domain database type (e.g., forCD1, DVD1, DVD3, Record3, and/or the like).

As described above, a database view includes a query statement (e.g., aSQL statement) that references certain subsets of the domain data 210stored in the repository 242. For example, a subset of data maycorrespond to data relating to a domain database type, such as domaindatabase Type 1—CD. Accordingly, the database view generator 226 maydynamically generate the database views 232 by generating a querystatement for each domain database type defined by the metadata 218. Thedatabase view generator 226 may obtain the database instances anddatabase attribute values corresponding to each domain database typeusing the metadata 218. For example, the database view generator 226 mayreceive the metadata 218, which may describe three instances of domaindatabase Type 1—CD, including CD1, CD2, and CD3. The metadata 218 mayalso describe three attribute definitions for domain database Type 1—CD,including Attribute 1—Title, Attribute 2—Artist, and Attribute 3—Track.The database view generator 226 may then determine the correspondingattribute values for each instance of the domain database Type 1—CD.Using the metadata 218, the database view generator 226 may create oneor more database view definition query statements, and may execute eachquery statement to create a database view 232. The query statementdefining a database view references the underlying data (databaseinstances and database attribute values) for the particular domaindatabase type. The database views represent the instances and attributevalues of each domain database type in a relational structure specificto the domain model created by the user 202. For example, with referenceto FIG. 3, each row of a virtual table representing database view 300may be dedicated to a particular instance of a domain type (e.g.instances CD1, CD2, and CD3). Further, each column of the virtual tablemay be dedicated to a different attribute value relating to theinstances of the domain type.

In some embodiments, the query statement includes a SQL statement. FIG.4 illustrates an example of a SQL statement 400 defining a databaseview. The SQL statement 400 may be executed against the DatabaseInstances and Attrib_Values tables stored in the repository 242.Filtering all the Database Instances rows to only those corresponding toa certain domain database type may be done through the “i.TYPE_UUID IN”clause 402 of the SQL statement 400. The “i.TYPE_UUID IN” clause 402specifies the identifier(s) for the domain type or any child types. Theidentifier(s) may include a universally unique identifier (UUID). Commonattributes associated with instances of all domain types, like NAME,NAMESPACE, INSTANCE_UUID may have dedicated columns in the DatabaseInstances table and are returned in the SELECT portion 404 of the SQLstatement 400. Using the example of FIG. 1, common attributes mayinclude Title or Artist. Other attributes that are specific to aparticular domain type in the domain model may be given generic nameslike AD1, AD2, etc. and may be filtered from the Attrib_Values tablethough a “ATTRDEFN_UUID=” clause, such as “ATTRDEFN_UUID=” clause 406.By knowing the identifiers (UUIDs) associated with a domain type and itsattributes, the system 200 can filter the Instances and Attribute Valuesdata down to just those rows associated with instances of a particulardomain type. As a result, the database view is a strongly typedprojection of the logically typed data stored in the Database Instancesand Attrib_Values tables of the repository 242.

The class object generator 224 may dynamically generate a class objectfor each domain database type defined by the metadata 218. Once theobject classes and database views are generated, a mapping generator 228may generate mapping information between each database view and eachcorresponding class object. Accordingly, a database view, a classobject, and mapping information may be generated for each domaindatabase type defined by the metadata 218. In some embodiments, thedatabase views, class objects, and mapping information may be generatedwhen the system 200 is first started or when a new domain model iscreated or updated.

The query statements defining the database views 232, the class objects230, and the mapping information 234 may be registered with the queryprocessor 208 and stored in the query processor 208, the registry 206,and/or the data store 236. The query processor 208 may retrieve thedomain data 210 that is represented by the database views 232 from theregistry 206 and/or the data store 236.

The database views 232, class objects 230, and mapping information 234may be used by the query processor 208 to process the user query 238 inorder to retrieve the data from the repository 242 that corresponds tothe user query 238. The user query 238 may be in a JPA format in termsspecific to the domain model created by the user 202. For example, theuser query 238 may specifically reference a domain database type, suchas Type 1—CD. The query processor 208 may determine the domain typereferenced in the user query 238. The query processor 208 may then matchthe type or types referenced in the query string against a set ofregistered class objects (e.g., registered in the query processor 208and/or the registry 206). For example, the query processor 208 maydetermine a particular class object that corresponds to the determineddomain type. As one example, the query processor 208 may retrieve aclass object called Type 1—CD that corresponds to the domain Type 1—CD.The query processor 208 may then determine that the class object hasmapping information associated with it that references a particulardatabase view. Using the mapping information, the query processor 208can determine the database view that corresponds to the class object.The query processor 208 can use the determined class object to translatethe user query 238 from the JPA format to a SQL format. The queryprocessor 208 can then run the translated SQL query against the databaseview in order to retrieve the data that is requested by the user query238. For example, the translated SQL query may be translated by thequery processor 208 into a SQL query against the underlying table in therepository 242 using the definition SQL of the database view.

In some embodiments, the portion of the query statement defining thedatabase view that is relevant to the user query 238 is used to retrievethe data in the repository 242 that is represented by the database viewand requested by the user query 238. For example, with reference to FIG.3, a SQL defining a database view limits user queries to only those rowswithin the underlying Database Instances table 106 and DatabaseAttrib_Values table 108 that are relevant to the domain type that thedatabase view represents. Any criteria specified in the user query (e.g.WHERE Type1.title=‘foo’) adds further constraints onto that SQL to matchspecific instances. As one example, a query against the database view300 in FIG. 3, a translated SQL query specifying “SELECT title FROMType1” may be translated by the query processor 208 into a query againstthe underlying Database Instances table 106 and Database Attrib_Valuestable 108. The query is constrained to the rows relevant to Type1 andType1 Title (e.g., CD1 Title, CD2 Title, CD3 Title). As another example,if the database view includes a reference to all instance and attributedata that relates to a Type 1—CD, but the user query 238 only requestsdata relating to a particular instance (e.g., CD1), only the portion ofthe database view query statement relating to the instance is used toretrieve data from the repository 242. Once the data is retrieved, thequery processor 208 may provide the requested data to the user 202 as aquery result 240.

Accordingly, the system 200 allows a user 202 to query the domain datathat is generically stored in the repository 242 using terms that arespecific to the domain model. As a result, the system 200 achieves thebenefits of storing the domain data in a loosely typed structure whilenot preventing users from easily searching their domain data.

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of a process 500 for generating andregistering database views, class objects, and mapping information.Process 500 is illustrated as a logical flow diagram, the operation ofwhich represent a sequence of operations that can be implemented inhardware, computer instructions, or a combination thereof. In thecontext of computer instructions, the operations representcomputer-executable instructions stored on one or more machine-readableor computer-readable storage media that, when executed by one or moreprocessors, perform the recited operations. Generally,computer-executable instructions include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, and the like that perform particularfunctions or implement particular data types. The order in which theoperations are described is not intended to be construed as alimitation, and any number of the described operations can be combinedin any order and/or in parallel to implement the processes.

Additionally, the process 500 may be performed under the control of oneor more computer systems configured with executable instructions and maybe implemented as code (e.g., executable instructions, one or morecomputer programs, or one or more applications) executing collectivelyon one or more processors, by hardware, or combinations thereof. Asnoted above, the code may be stored on a machine-readable orcomputer-readable storage medium, for example, in the form of a computerprogram comprising a plurality of instructions executable by one or moreprocessors. The machine-readable or computer-readable storage medium maybe non-transitory.

In some aspects, the process 500 may be performed by a computing device,such as the server 812 or one or more of the client computing devices802, 804, 806, 808 shown in FIG. 8, the cloud infrastructure system 902or one or more client computing devices 904, 906, and 908 shown in FIG.9, or the computer system 1000 shown in FIG. 10. The computing devicemay perform the process 500 by implementing all or parts of the system200 shown in FIG. 2.

Process 500 may begin at 502 by receiving a domain model. The domainmodel includes metadata with domain types that may be defined and/orselected by a user. For example, the domain types may be based on datadescriptions provided by the user. The domain model may be received, forexample, by the repository 242 from the domain model generator 204. At504, the domain model is stored in tables with a generic structure. Forexample, the repository 242 may store the domain model in a looselytyped generic format that does not correspond to the domain model.

At 506, the process 500 includes determining domain types from themetadata. For example, the domain type engine 220 may obtain themetadata of the domain model and may determine each domain type definedby the metadata. At 508, the process 500 includes generating a databaseview for each domain type using the metadata. For example, the domaintype engine 220 may provide the domain type 222 and the metadata 218 tothe database view generator 226. The database view generator 226 maythen generate a database view for each domain type using the domain type222 and the metadata 218, as described above with respect to FIG. 2. Anexample of a database view may include the database view 300 shown inFIG. 3. One of ordinary skill in the art will understand that thedatabase views may be generated for data and/or metadata other thandomain database types. For example, a database view may be generated foreach attribute definition or for a group of attribute definitions. Asanother example, a database view may be generated for each instance of adomain database type.

At 510, the process 500 includes generating a class object for eachdomain type using the metadata. For example, the domain type engine 220may provide the domain type 222 and the metadata 218 to the class objectgenerator 224. The class object generator 224 may generate a classobject for each domain type using the domain type 222 and the metadata218, as described above with respect to FIG. 2. One of ordinary skill inthe art will understand that the class objects may be generated for dataand/or metadata other than domain database types. For example, a classobject may be generated for each attribute definition or for a group ofattribute definitions. As another example, a class object may begenerated for each instance of a domain database type.

At 512, the process 500 includes generating mapping information bymapping each class object generated for a domain type to a correspondingdatabase view for that domain type. For example, once the object classesand database views are generated for each domain type, the mappinggenerator 228 may generate mapping information between each databaseview and each corresponding class object. In some embodiments, thedatabase views, class objects, and mapping information may be generatedwhen a repository system (e.g., repository 242 of system 200) is firststarted or when a new domain model is created or updated.

At 514, the process 500 includes registering the class objects, databaseviews, and mapping information with a repository. For example, thedatabase views, the class objects, and the mapping information may beregistered with the query processor 208 and stored in the queryprocessor 208, the registry 206, and/or the data store 236. The queryprocessor 208 may retrieve the domain data that is referenced by thedatabase views 232 from the registry 206 and/or the data store 236.

FIG. 6 illustrates an embodiment of a process 600 for using databaseviews, class objects, and mapping information for processing a userquery. Process 600 is illustrated as a logical flow diagram, theoperation of which represent a sequence of operations that can beimplemented in hardware, computer instructions, or a combinationthereof. In the context of computer instructions, the operationsrepresent computer-executable instructions stored on one or moremachine-readable or computer-readable storage media that, when executedby one or more processors, perform the recited operations. Generally,computer-executable instructions include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, and the like that perform particularfunctions or implement particular data types. The order in which theoperations are described is not intended to be construed as alimitation, and any number of the described operations can be combinedin any order and/or in parallel to implement the processes.

Additionally, the process 600 may be performed under the control of oneor more computer systems configured with executable instructions and maybe implemented as code (e.g., executable instructions, one or morecomputer programs, or one or more applications) executing collectivelyon one or more processors, by hardware, or combinations thereof. Asnoted above, the code may be stored on a machine-readable orcomputer-readable storage medium, for example, in the form of a computerprogram comprising a plurality of instructions executable by one or moreprocessors. The machine-readable or computer-readable storage medium maybe non-transitory.

In some aspects, the process 600 may be performed by a computing device,such as the server 812 or one or more of the client computing devices802, 804, 806, 808 shown in FIG. 8, the cloud infrastructure system 902or one or more client computing devices 904, 906, and 908 shown in FIG.9, or the computer system 1000 shown in FIG. 10. The computing devicemay perform the process 600 by implementing all or parts of the system200 shown in FIG. 2.

Process 600 may begin at 602 by receiving a query from a user for datarelating to a domain type. The query may include terms that are specificto a domain model created by the user. For example, the user query maybe in a JPA format that specifically references a domain type (e.g.,Type 1—CD). The query processor 208 may receive the user query and mayprocess the user query to determine the domain type referenced by thequery. At 604, the process 600 may determine a class object thatcorresponds to the domain type referenced by the user query. Forexample, the query processor 208 may retrieve a class object called Type1—CD that corresponds to the domain Type 1—CD. The query processor 208may retrieve the class object from short term memory (e.g., flashmemory, or the like) within the query processor 208, from the registry206, and/or from the data store 236.

At 604, the process 600 includes determining mapping informationcorresponding to the determined class object. At 606, the process 600includes determining a database view that corresponds to the classobject based on the mapping information. For example, the queryprocessor 208 may determine that the determined class object has mappinginformation associated with it that references a particular databaseview. Using the mapping information, the query processor 208 candetermine the database view that corresponds to the class object.

The class object and database view can then be used to process the userquery in order to retrieve data that is requested by the query. Forexample, at 606, the process 600 includes translating the user queryinto a search query using the class object and running the search queryagainst the database view. For example, the query processor 208 can usethe determined class object to translate the user query from a JPAformat to a SQL format. At 608, the process 600 includes retrieving datathat corresponds to the database view. For example, the query processor208 can run the translated SQL query against the database view in orderto retrieve the data that is requested by the user query. The portion ofthe query statement defining the database view that is relevant to theuser query may then be used to retrieve the data from the underlyingtables in the repository that is represented by the database view andrequested by the user query. For example, the database view may includea reference to all instance and attribute data that relates to a domainType 1—CD, but the user query may only request data relating to aparticular instance of the domain type (e.g., CD1). In this example,only the portion of the query statement relating to the instance is usedto retrieve data from the underlying tables of the repository. Once thedata is retrieved, the query processor may provide the data to the useras a query result (e.g., query result 240).

FIG. 7 illustrates an embodiment of a process 700 for retrieving domaindata using database views, class objects, and mapping information.Process 700 is illustrated as a logical flow diagram, the operation ofwhich represent a sequence of operations that can be implemented inhardware, computer instructions, or a combination thereof. In thecontext of computer instructions, the operations representcomputer-executable instructions stored on one or more machine-readableor computer-readable storage media that, when executed by one or moreprocessors, perform the recited operations. Generally,computer-executable instructions include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, and the like that perform particularfunctions or implement particular data types. The order in which theoperations are described is not intended to be construed as alimitation, and any number of the described operations can be combinedin any order and/or in parallel to implement the processes.

Additionally, the process 700 may be performed under the control of oneor more computer systems configured with executable instructions and maybe implemented as code (e.g., executable instructions, one or morecomputer programs, or one or more applications) executing collectivelyon one or more processors, by hardware, or combinations thereof. Asnoted above, the code may be stored on a machine-readable orcomputer-readable storage medium, for example, in the form of a computerprogram comprising a plurality of instructions executable by one or moreprocessors. The machine-readable or computer-readable storage medium maybe non-transitory.

In some aspects, the process 700 may be performed by a computing device,such as the server 812 or one or more of the client computing devices802, 804, 806, 808 shown in FIG. 8, the cloud infrastructure system 902or one or more client computing devices 904, 906, and 908 shown in FIG.9, or the computer system 1000 shown in FIG. 10. The computing devicemay perform the process 700 by implementing all or parts of the system200 shown in FIG. 2.

Process 700 may begin at 702 by obtaining a domain model from arepository, the domain model including metadata corresponding to a setof domain data stored in the repository. For example, the domain model(e.g., domain model 216) may be generated by the domain model generator204 in response to a user defining and/or selecting data descriptions212 for domain data 210. In some embodiments, the metadata of the domainmodel defines one or more domain types and one or more attributedefinitions for the set of domain data stored in the repository. The oneor more domain types and one or more attribute definitions may be basedon the user's defined and/or selected data descriptions 212 for thedomain data 210. The domain model may be registered and/or stored in theregistry 206 and/or the data store 236 of the repository 242. The domainmodel may then be obtained from the registry 206 and/or the data store236 by the class object generator 224, the database view generator 226,and/or the domain type engine 220. For example, the class objectgenerator 224 and the database view generator 226 may retrieve themetadata 218 of the domain model 216 directly from the registry 206 orthe data store 236. As another example, the domain type engine 220 mayobtain the domain model from the registry 206 or the data store 236. Thedomain type engine 220 may then provide domain types and metadata to theclass object generator 224 and the database view generator 226.

The set of domain data is stored in the repository in a genericstructure with no correspondence to the domain model. For example, thedomain model may be stored in tables within the repository with aloosely typed generic format that does not correspond to the domainmodel. As described above, the repository tables 102, 104, 106, and 108of FIG. 1 illustrate an example of tables in a loosely typed genericformat, where the repository does not include a separate table for eachdatabase type with columns and rows including the instances andattribute values for each type. Rather, all of the metadata (databasetypes and attribute definitions) and all of the data (database instancesand database attribute values) are stored in different tables with norelational correspondence to related data and/or metadata as defined bythe domain model.

At 704, the process 700 includes generating a database view of a subsetof the set of domain data using the metadata. For example, the databaseview generator 226 may generate a database view for the subset of datausing the metadata, as described above with reference to FIGS. 2-4. Anexample of a database view may include the database view 300 shown inFIG. 3. In some embodiments, the database view includes a querystatement referencing the subset of domain data. In some embodiments,the query statement includes a structured query language (SQL)statement, such as the SQL statement 400 described above with referenceto FIG. 4. The database view represents the subset of domain data as avirtual table with a specific structure corresponding to the domainmodel. As described above, the database view 300 of FIG. 3 illustratesan example of representing the data as a virtual table in a stronglytyped, relational structure. For example, the database view 300represents the Type 1 instances and attribute values in a stronglytyped, relational structure specific to the domain model created by auser. Each row is dedicated to a particular instance of Type 1, such asCD1, CD2, and CD3. Further, each column is dedicated to an attributevalue for the Type 1 instances. As a result, the database view providesa strongly typed projection of the logically typed data stored in thetables of the repository.

In some embodiments, the subset of data may include data relating to adomain database type defined by the metadata of the domain model, suchas domain database Type 1—CD described above with reference to FIG. 1.For example, using the domain type 222 and the metadata 218, thedatabase view generator 226 may dynamically generate the database viewfor the domain type, as described above with respect to FIG. 2. One ofordinary skill in the art will understand that the database view may begenerated for data and/or metadata other than domain database types. Forexample, a database view may be generated for an attribute definition orfor a group of attribute definitions (e.g., all tracks of a CD). Asanother example, a database view may be generated for an instance of adomain database type (e.g., for first CD of a CD Type).

At 706, the process 700 includes generating a class object for thesubset of domain data using the metadata. In some embodiments, thesubset of data may include data relating to a domain database typedefined by the metadata of the domain model. In some embodiments, theprocess 700 may include generating a class object and a database viewfor each domain type of the one or more domain types defined by themetadata of the domain model. For example, the class object generator224 may generate a class object for each domain type using the domaintype 222 and the metadata 218, as described above with respect to FIG.2. One of ordinary skill in the art will understand that the classobjects may be generated for data and/or metadata other than domaindatabase types. For example, a class object may be generated for eachattribute definition or for a group of attribute definitions. As anotherexample, a class object may be generated for each instance of a domaindatabase type. As described above, a class object may includeobject-oriented code that is mapped to data from relational databasesusing object-relational mapping. An example of a class object is a Javaobject or Java class. In some embodiments, Java Persistence API (JPA)may be used to perform object-relational mapping. JPA may permits theprocess 700 to work directly with class objects rather than with SQLstatements. The process 700 may use JPA to map, store, update, andretrieve data from relational databases to class objects and vice versa.

At 708, the process 700 includes generating mapping information bymapping the generated database view to the generated class object. Forexample, once the object classes and database views are generated foreach domain type, the mapping generator 228 may generate mappinginformation between each database view and each corresponding classobject. In some embodiments, the database views, class objects, andmapping information may be generated when repository system (e.g.,repository 242 of system 200) is first started or when a new domainmodel is created or updated. In some embodiments, the class objects,database views, and mapping information may be registered with arepository. For example, the database views, the class objects, and themapping information may be registered with the query processor 208 andstored in the query processor 208, the registry 206, and/or the datastore 236.

At 710, the process 700 includes retrieving the subset of domain datafrom the repository using the database view, the class object, and themapping information. In some embodiments, the database view, the classobject, and the mapping information may be used (e.g., by the queryprocessor 208) to process a user query in order to retrieve the subsetof domain data from the repository that corresponds to the databaseview. For example, the process 700 may include receiving a user queryfor the subset of domain data and determining a domain type from theuser query. The domain type may correspond to a domain type of thesubset of domain data defined by the metadata. The process 700 mayfurther include determining the class object for the subset of databased on the domain type determined from the user query and determiningthe database view of the subset of data using the mapping informationbetween the class object and the database view. The process 700 mayfurther include performing a query on the database view to retrieve thesubset of domain data from the repository. In some embodiments, theprocess 700 may include translating the user query into a structuredquery language statement using the class object, wherein performing thequery on the database view includes performing the structured querylanguage statement on the database view to retrieve the subset of domaindata from the repository. In some embodiments, once the query (e.g., thetranslated query) is performed on the database view, the query statementrepresenting the database view is then performed on the set of domaindata stored in the repository in order to retrieve the subset of domaindata referenced by the database view. For example, the query processor208 may retrieve the subset of domain data that is referenced by thedatabase view from the registry 206 and/or the data store 236. Theprocess 700 may further include outputting the subset of domain data asa result of the user query. For example, the subset of domain data maybe output to the user as a query result (e.g., query result 240).

The user query may be in a JPA format in terms specific to the domainmodel created by the user. For example, the user query may reference adomain database type, such as Type 1-CD (see FIG. 1). The process 700may determine the domain type referenced in the user query and maydetermine the class object that corresponds to the domain typereferenced in the user query. For example, the query processor 208 mayretrieve a class object called Type 1—CD that corresponds to the domainType 1—CD. The class objects may be used to translate the user queryfrom a JPA format to a SQL format in order to query against a relateddatabase view. As explained above, the process 700 may determine thatthe class object has mapping information associated with it thatreferences a particular database view. Using the mapping information,the process 700 can determine the database view that corresponds to theclass object. The process 700 can use the class objects to translate theuser query from the JPA format to a SQL format. The query processor 208can run the translated SQL query against the database view. Once thedatabase view is queried, the process 700 may then use the querystatement defining the database view to retrieve the subset of data inthe repository that is represented by the database view.

The processes 500, 600, and 700 allow a user to query the domain datathat is generically stored in the repository using terms that arespecific to the domain model created by the user. As a result, theprocesses 500, 600, and 700 achieve the benefits described aboverelating to storing the domain data in a loosely typed structure whilenot preventing users from easily searching their domain data usingdomain specific terms.

FIG. 8 depicts a simplified diagram of a distributed system 800 forimplementing one of the embodiments. In the illustrated embodiment,distributed system 800 includes one or more client computing devices802, 804, 806, and 808, which are configured to execute and operate aclient application such as a web browser, proprietary client (e.g.,Oracle Forms), or the like over one or more network(s) 810. Server 812may be communicatively coupled with remote client computing devices 802,804, 806, and 808 via network 810.

In various embodiments, server 812 may be adapted to run one or moreservices or software applications provided by one or more of thecomponents of the system. In some embodiments, these services may beoffered as web-based or cloud services or under a Software as a Service(SaaS) model to the users of client computing devices 802, 804, 806,and/or 808. Users operating client computing devices 802, 804, 806,and/or 808 may in turn utilize one or more client applications tointeract with server 812 to utilize the services provided by thesecomponents.

In the configuration depicted in the figure, the software components818, 820 and 822 of system 800 are shown as being implemented on server812. In other embodiments, one or more of the components of system 800and/or the services provided by these components may also be implementedby one or more of the client computing devices 802, 804, 806, and/or808. Users operating the client computing devices may then utilize oneor more client applications to use the services provided by thesecomponents. These components may be implemented in hardware, firmware,software, or combinations thereof. It should be appreciated that variousdifferent system configurations are possible, which may be differentfrom distributed system 600. The embodiment shown in the figure is thusone example of a distributed system for implementing an embodimentsystem and is not intended to be limiting.

Client computing devices 802, 804, 806, and/or 808 may be portablehandheld devices (e.g., an iPhone®, cellular telephone, an iPad®,computing tablet, a personal digital assistant (PDA)) or wearabledevices (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounted display), running softwaresuch as Microsoft Windows Mobile®, and/or a variety of mobile operatingsystems such as iOS, Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry, Palm OS, andthe like, and being Internet, e-mail, short message service (SMS),Blackberry®, or other communication protocol enabled. The clientcomputing devices can be general purpose personal computers including,by way of example, personal computers and/or laptop computers runningvarious versions of Microsoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linuxoperating systems. The client computing devices can be workstationcomputers running any of a variety of commercially-available UNIX® orUNIX-like operating systems, including without limitation the variety ofGNU/Linux operating systems, such as for example, Google Chrome OS.Alternatively, or in addition, client computing devices 802, 804, 806,and 808 may be any other electronic device, such as a thin-clientcomputer, an Internet-enabled gaming system (e.g., a Microsoft Xboxgaming console with or without a Kinect® gesture input device), and/or apersonal messaging device, capable of communicating over network(s) 810.

Although exemplary distributed system 800 is shown with four clientcomputing devices, any number of client computing devices may besupported. Other devices, such as devices with sensors, etc., mayinteract with server 812.

Network(s) 810 in distributed system 800 may be any type of networkfamiliar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-availableprotocols, including without limitation TCP/IP (transmission controlprotocol/Internet protocol), SNA (systems network architecture), IPX(Internet packet exchange), AppleTalk, and the like. Merely by way ofexample, network(s) 810 can be a local area network (LAN), such as onebased on Ethernet, Token-Ring and/or the like. Network(s) 810 can be awide-area network and the Internet. It can include a virtual network,including without limitation a virtual private network (VPN), anintranet, an extranet, a public switched telephone network (PSTN), aninfra-red network, a wireless network (e.g., a network operating underany of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics (IEEE) 802.11 suiteof protocols, Bluetooth®, and/or any other wireless protocol); and/orany combination of these and/or other networks.

Server 812 may be composed of one or more general purpose computers,specialized server computers (including, by way of example, PC (personalcomputer) servers, UNIX® servers, mid-range servers, mainframecomputers, rack-mounted servers, etc.), server farms, server clusters,or any other appropriate arrangement and/or combination. In variousembodiments, server 812 may be adapted to run one or more services orsoftware applications described in the foregoing disclosure. Forexample, server 812 may correspond to a server for performing processingdescribed above according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Server 812 may run an operating system including any of those discussedabove, as well as any commercially available server operating system.Server 812 may also run any of a variety of additional serverapplications and/or mid-tier applications, including HTTP (hypertexttransport protocol) servers, FTP (file transfer protocol) servers, CGI(common gateway interface) servers, JAVA® servers, database servers, andthe like. Exemplary database servers include without limitation thosecommercially available from Oracle, Microsoft, Sybase, IBM(International Business Machines), and the like.

In some implementations, server 812 may include one or more applicationsto analyze and consolidate data feeds and/or event updates received fromusers of client computing devices 802, 804, 806, and 808. As an example,data feeds and/or event updates may include, but are not limited to,Twitter® feeds, Facebook® updates or real-time updates received from oneor more third party information sources and continuous data streams,which may include real-time events related to sensor data applications,financial tickers, network performance measuring tools (e.g., networkmonitoring and traffic management applications), clickstream analysistools, automobile traffic monitoring, and the like. Server 812 may alsoinclude one or more applications to display the data feeds and/orreal-time events via one or more display devices of client computingdevices 802, 804, 806, and 808.

Distributed system 800 may also include one or more databases 814 and816. Databases 814 and 816 may reside in a variety of locations. By wayof example, one or more of databases 814 and 816 may reside on anon-transitory storage medium local to (and/or resident in) server 812.Alternatively, databases 814 and 816 may be remote from server 812 andin communication with server 812 via a network-based or dedicatedconnection. In one set of embodiments, databases 814 and 816 may residein a storage-area network (SAN). Similarly, any necessary files forperforming the functions attributed to server 812 may be stored locallyon server 812 and/or remotely, as appropriate. In one set ofembodiments, databases 814 and 816 may include relational databases,such as databases provided by Oracle, that are adapted to store, update,and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.

FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of one or more components of asystem environment 900 by which services provided by one or morecomponents of an embodiment system may be offered as cloud services, inaccordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. In theillustrated embodiment, system environment 900 includes one or moreclient computing devices 904, 906, and 908 that may be used by users tointeract with a cloud infrastructure system 902 that provides cloudservices. The client computing devices may be configured to operate aclient application such as a web browser, a proprietary clientapplication (e.g., Oracle Forms), or some other application, which maybe used by a user of the client computing device to interact with cloudinfrastructure system 902 to use services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 902.

It should be appreciated that cloud infrastructure system 902 depictedin the figure may have other components than those depicted. Further,the embodiment shown in the figure is only one example of a cloudinfrastructure system that may incorporate an embodiment of theinvention. In some other embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 902may have more or fewer components than shown in the figure, may combinetwo or more components, or may have a different configuration orarrangement of components.

Client computing devices 904, 906, and 908 may be devices similar tothose described above for 802, 804, 806, and 808.

Although exemplary system environment 900 is shown with three clientcomputing devices, any number of client computing devices may besupported. Other devices such as devices with sensors, etc. may interactwith cloud infrastructure system 902.

Network(s) 910 may facilitate communications and exchange of databetween clients 904, 906, and 908 and cloud infrastructure system 902.Each network may be any type of network familiar to those skilled in theart that can support data communications using any of a variety ofcommercially-available protocols, including those described above fornetwork(s) 810.

Cloud infrastructure system 902 may comprise one or more computersand/or servers that may include those described above for server 812.

In certain embodiments, services provided by the cloud infrastructuresystem may include a host of services that are made available to usersof the cloud infrastructure system on demand, such as online datastorage and backup solutions, Web-based e-mail services, hosted officesuites and document collaboration services, database processing, managedtechnical support services, and the like. Services provided by the cloudinfrastructure system can dynamically scale to meet the needs of itsusers. A specific instantiation of a service provided by cloudinfrastructure system is referred to herein as a “service instance.” Ingeneral, any service made available to a user via a communicationnetwork, such as the Internet, from a cloud service provider's system isreferred to as a “cloud service.” Typically, in a public cloudenvironment, servers and systems that make up the cloud serviceprovider's system are different from the customer's own on-premisesservers and systems. For example, a cloud service provider's system mayhost an application, and a user may, via a communication network such asthe Internet, on demand, order and use the application.

In some examples, a service in a computer network cloud infrastructuremay include protected computer network access to storage, a hosteddatabase, a hosted web server, a software application, or other serviceprovided by a cloud vendor to a user, or as otherwise known in the art.For example, a service can include password-protected access to remotestorage on the cloud through the Internet. As another example, a servicecan include a web service-based hosted relational database and ascript-language middleware engine for private use by a networkeddeveloper. As another example, a service can include access to an emailsoftware application hosted on a cloud vendor's web site.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 902 may include asuite of applications, middleware, and database service offerings thatare delivered to a customer in a self-service, subscription-based,elastically scalable, reliable, highly available, and secure manner. Anexample of such a cloud infrastructure system is the Oracle Public Cloudprovided by the present assignee.

In various embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 902 may be adaptedto automatically provision, manage and track a customer's subscriptionto services offered by cloud infrastructure system 902. Cloudinfrastructure system 902 may provide the cloud services via differentdeployment models. For example, services may be provided under a publiccloud model in which cloud infrastructure system 902 is owned by anorganization selling cloud services (e.g., owned by Oracle) and theservices are made available to the general public or different industryenterprises. As another example, services may be provided under aprivate cloud model in which cloud infrastructure system 902 is operatedsolely for a single organization and may provide services for one ormore entities within the organization. The cloud services may also beprovided under a community cloud model in which cloud infrastructuresystem 902 and the services provided by cloud infrastructure system 902are shared by several organizations in a related community. The cloudservices may also be provided under a hybrid cloud model, which is acombination of two or more different models.

In some embodiments, the services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 902 may include one or more services provided under Software as aService (SaaS) category, Platform as a Service (PaaS) category,Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) category, or other categories ofservices including hybrid services. A customer, via a subscriptionorder, may order one or more services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 902. Cloud infrastructure system 902 then performs processing toprovide the services in the customer's subscription order.

In some embodiments, the services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 902 may include, without limitation, application services,platform services and infrastructure services. In some examples,application services may be provided by the cloud infrastructure systemvia a SaaS platform. The SaaS platform may be configured to providecloud services that fall under the SaaS category. For example, the SaaSplatform may provide capabilities to build and deliver a suite ofon-demand applications on an integrated development and deploymentplatform. The SaaS platform may manage and control the underlyingsoftware and infrastructure for providing the SaaS services. Byutilizing the services provided by the SaaS platform, customers canutilize applications executing on the cloud infrastructure system.Customers can acquire the application services without the need forcustomers to purchase separate licenses and support. Various differentSaaS services may be provided. Examples include, without limitation,services that provide solutions for sales performance management,enterprise integration, and business flexibility for largeorganizations.

In some embodiments, platform services may be provided by the cloudinfrastructure system via a PaaS platform. The PaaS platform may beconfigured to provide cloud services that fall under the PaaS category.Examples of platform services may include without limitation servicesthat enable organizations (such as Oracle) to consolidate existingapplications on a shared, common architecture, as well as the ability tobuild new applications that leverage the shared services provided by theplatform. The PaaS platform may manage and control the underlyingsoftware and infrastructure for providing the PaaS services. Customerscan acquire the PaaS services provided by the cloud infrastructuresystem without the need for customers to purchase separate licenses andsupport. Examples of platform services include, without limitation,Oracle Java Cloud Service (JCS), Oracle Database Cloud Service (DBCS),and others.

By utilizing the services provided by the PaaS platform, customers canemploy programming languages and tools supported by the cloudinfrastructure system and also control the deployed services. In someembodiments, platform services provided by the cloud infrastructuresystem may include database cloud services, middleware cloud services(e.g., Oracle Fusion Middleware services), and Java cloud services. Inone embodiment, database cloud services may support shared servicedeployment models that enable organizations to pool database resourcesand offer customers a Database as a Service in the form of a databasecloud. Middleware cloud services may provide a platform for customers todevelop and deploy various business applications, and Java cloudservices may provide a platform for customers to deploy Javaapplications, in the cloud infrastructure system.

Various different infrastructure services may be provided by an IaaSplatform in the cloud infrastructure system. The infrastructure servicesfacilitate the management and control of the underlying computingresources, such as storage, networks, and other fundamental computingresources for customers utilizing services provided by the SaaS platformand the PaaS platform.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 902 may also includeinfrastructure resources 930 for providing the resources used to providevarious services to customers of the cloud infrastructure system. In oneembodiment, infrastructure resources 930 may include pre-integrated andoptimized combinations of hardware, such as servers, storage, andnetworking resources to execute the services provided by the PaaSplatform and the SaaS platform.

In some embodiments, resources in cloud infrastructure system 902 may beshared by multiple users and dynamically re-allocated per demand.Additionally, resources may be allocated to users in different timezones. For example, cloud infrastructure system 930 may enable a firstset of users in a first time zone to utilize resources of the cloudinfrastructure system for a specified number of hours and then enablethe re-allocation of the same resources to another set of users locatedin a different time zone, thereby maximizing the utilization ofresources.

In certain embodiments, a number of internal shared services 932 may beprovided that are shared by different components or modules of cloudinfrastructure system 902 and by the services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 902. These internal shared services may include,without limitation, a security and identity service, an integrationservice, an enterprise repository service, an enterprise managerservice, a virus scanning and white list service, a high availability,backup and recovery service, service for enabling cloud support, anemail service, a notification service, a file transfer service, and thelike.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 902 may providecomprehensive management of cloud services (e.g., SaaS, PaaS, and IaaSservices) in the cloud infrastructure system. In one embodiment, cloudmanagement functionality may include capabilities for provisioning,managing and tracking a customer's subscription received by cloudinfrastructure system 902, and the like.

In one embodiment, as depicted in the figure, cloud managementfunctionality may be provided by one or more modules, such as an ordermanagement module 920, an order orchestration module 922, an orderprovisioning module 924, an order management and monitoring module 926,and an identity management module 928. These modules may include or beprovided using one or more computers and/or servers, which may begeneral purpose computers, specialized server computers, server farms,server clusters, or any other appropriate arrangement and/orcombination.

In exemplary operation 934, a customer using a client device, such asclient device 904, 906 or 908, may interact with cloud infrastructuresystem 902 by requesting one or more services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 902 and placing an order for a subscription forone or more services offered by cloud infrastructure system 902. Incertain embodiments, the customer may access a cloud User Interface(UI), cloud UI 912, cloud UI 914 and/or cloud UI 916 and place asubscription order via these UIs. The order information received bycloud infrastructure system 902 in response to the customer placing anorder may include information identifying the customer and one or moreservices offered by the cloud infrastructure system 902 that thecustomer intends to subscribe to.

After an order has been placed by the customer, the order information isreceived via the cloud UIs, 912, 914 and/or 916.

At operation 936, the order is stored in order database 918. Orderdatabase 918 can be one of several databases operated by cloudinfrastructure system 918 and operated in conjunction with other systemelements.

At operation 938, the order information is forwarded to an ordermanagement module 920. In some instances, order management module 920may be configured to perform billing and accounting functions related tothe order, such as verifying the order, and upon verification, bookingthe order.

At operation 940, information regarding the order is communicated to anorder orchestration module 922. Order orchestration module 922 mayutilize the order information to orchestrate the provisioning ofservices and resources for the order placed by the customer. In someinstances, order orchestration module 922 may orchestrate theprovisioning of resources to support the subscribed services using theservices of order provisioning module 924.

In certain embodiments, order orchestration module 922 enables themanagement of business processes associated with each order and appliesbusiness logic to determine whether an order should proceed toprovisioning. At operation 942, upon receiving an order for a newsubscription, order orchestration module 922 sends a request to orderprovisioning module 924 to allocate resources and configure thoseresources needed to fulfill the subscription order. Order provisioningmodule 924 enables the allocation of resources for the services orderedby the customer. Order provisioning module 924 provides a level ofabstraction between the cloud services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 900 and the physical implementation layer that is used toprovision the resources for providing the requested services. Orderorchestration module 922 may thus be isolated from implementationdetails, such as whether or not services and resources are actuallyprovisioned on the fly or pre-provisioned and only allocated/assignedupon request.

At operation 944, once the services and resources are provisioned, anotification of the provided service may be sent to customers on clientdevices 904, 906 and/or 908 by order provisioning module 924 of cloudinfrastructure system 902.

At operation 946, the customer's subscription order may be managed andtracked by an order management and monitoring module 926. In someinstances, order management and monitoring module 926 may be configuredto collect usage statistics for the services in the subscription order,such as the amount of storage used, the amount data transferred, thenumber of users, and the amount of system up time and system down time.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 900 may include anidentity management module 928. Identity management module 928 may beconfigured to provide identity services, such as access management andauthorization services in cloud infrastructure system 900. In someembodiments, identity management module 928 may control informationabout customers who wish to utilize the services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 902. Such information can include information thatauthenticates the identities of such customers and information thatdescribes which actions those customers are authorized to performrelative to various system resources (e.g., files, directories,applications, communication ports, memory segments, etc.) Identitymanagement module 928 may also include the management of descriptiveinformation about each customer and about how and by whom thatdescriptive information can be accessed and modified.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary computer system 1000, in which variousembodiments of the present invention may be implemented. The system 1000may be used to implement any of the computer systems described above. Asshown in the figure, computer system 1000 includes a processing unit1004 that communicates with a number of peripheral subsystems via a bussubsystem 1002. These peripheral subsystems may include a processingacceleration unit 1006, an I/O subsystem 1008, a storage subsystem 1018and a communications subsystem 1024. Storage subsystem 1018 includestangible, non-transitory computer-readable storage media 1022 and asystem memory 1010.

Bus subsystem 1002 provides a mechanism for letting the variouscomponents and subsystems of computer system 1000 communicate with eachother as intended. Although bus subsystem 1002 is shown schematically asa single bus, alternative embodiments of the bus subsystem may utilizemultiple buses. Bus subsystem 1002 may be any of several types of busstructures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. Forexample, such architectures may include an Industry StandardArchitecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, EnhancedISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) localbus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, which can beimplemented as a Mezzanine bus manufactured to the IEEE P1386.1standard.

Processing unit 1004, which can be implemented as one or more integratedcircuits (e.g., a conventional microprocessor or microcontroller),controls the operation of computer system 1000. One or more processorsmay be included in processing unit 1004. These processors may includesingle core or multicore processors. In certain embodiments, processingunit 1004 may be implemented as one or more independent processing units1032 and/or 1034 with single or multicore processors included in eachprocessing unit. In other embodiments, processing unit 1004 may also beimplemented as a quad-core processing unit formed by integrating twodual-core processors into a single chip.

In various embodiments, processing unit 1004 can execute a variety ofprograms in response to program code and can maintain multipleconcurrently executing programs or processes. At any given time, some orall of the program code to be executed can be resident in processor(s)1004 and/or in storage subsystem 1018. Through suitable programming,processor(s) 1004 can provide various functionalities described above.Computer system 1000 may additionally include a processing accelerationunit 1006, which can include a digital signal processor (DSP), aspecial-purpose processor, and/or the like.

I/O subsystem 1008 may include user interface input devices and userinterface output devices. User interface input devices may include akeyboard, pointing devices such as a mouse or trackball, a touchpad ortouch screen incorporated into a display, a scroll wheel, a click wheel,a dial, a button, a switch, a keypad, audio input devices with voicecommand recognition systems, microphones, and other types of inputdevices. User interface input devices may include, for example, motionsensing and/or gesture recognition devices such as the Microsoft Kinect®motion sensor that enables users to control and interact with an inputdevice, such as the Microsoft Xbox® 360 game controller, through anatural user interface using gestures and spoken commands. Userinterface input devices may also include eye gesture recognition devicessuch as the Google Glass® blink detector that detects eye activity(e.g., ‘blinking’ while taking pictures and/or making a menu selection)from users and transforms the eye gestures as input into an input device(e.g., Google Glass®). Additionally, user interface input devices mayinclude voice recognition sensing devices that enable users to interactwith voice recognition systems (e.g., Siri® navigator), through voicecommands.

User interface input devices may also include, without limitation, threedimensional (3D) mice, joysticks or pointing sticks, gamepads andgraphic tablets, and audio/visual devices such as speakers, digitalcameras, digital camcorders, portable media players, webcams, imagescanners, fingerprint scanners, barcode reader 3D scanners, 3D printers,laser rangefinders, and eye gaze tracking devices. Additionally, userinterface input devices may include, for example, medical imaging inputdevices such as computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging,position emission tomography, medical ultrasonography devices. Userinterface input devices may also include, for example, audio inputdevices such as MIDI keyboards, digital musical instruments and thelike.

User interface output devices may include a display subsystem, indicatorlights, or non-visual displays such as audio output devices, etc. Thedisplay subsystem may be a cathode ray tube (CRT), a flat-panel device,such as that using a liquid crystal display (LCD) or plasma display, aprojection device, a touch screen, and the like. In general, use of theterm “output device” is intended to include all possible types ofdevices and mechanisms for outputting information from computer system1000 to a user or other computer. For example, user interface outputdevices may include, without limitation, a variety of display devicesthat visually convey text, graphics and audio/video information such asmonitors, printers, speakers, headphones, automotive navigation systems,plotters, voice output devices, and modems.

Computer system 1000 may comprise a storage subsystem 1018 thatcomprises software elements that may be stored within a non-transitorymachine-readable storage medium, such as system memory 1010. Systemmemory 1010 may store program instructions that are loadable andexecutable on processing unit 1004, as well as data generated during theexecution of these programs.

Depending on the configuration and type of computer system 1000, systemmemory 1010 may be volatile (such as random access memory (RAM)) and/ornon-volatile (such as read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, etc.) TheRAM typically contains data and/or program modules that are immediatelyaccessible to and/or presently being operated and executed by processingunit 1004. In some implementations, system memory 1010 may includemultiple different types of memory, such as static random access memory(SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM). In some implementations,a basic input/output system (BIOS), containing the basic routines thathelp to transfer information between elements within computer system1000, such as during start-up, may typically be stored in the ROM. Byway of example, and not limitation, system memory 1010 also illustratesapplication programs 1012, which may include client applications, Webbrowsers, mid-tier applications, relational database management systems(RDBMS), etc., program data 1014, and an operating system 1016. By wayof example, operating system 1016 may include various versions ofMicrosoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/or Linux operating systems, avariety of commercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-like operating systems(including without limitation the variety of GNU/Linux operatingsystems, the Google Chrome® OS, and the like) and/or mobile operatingsystems such as iOS, Windows® Phone, Android® OS, BlackBerry® 10 OS, andPalm® OS operating systems.

Storage subsystem 1018 may also provide a tangible, non-transitorymachine-readable storage media 1022 for storing the basic programmingand data constructs that provide the functionality of some embodiments.Software (programs, code modules, instructions) that when executed by aprocessor provide the functionality described above may be stored instorage subsystem 1018. These software modules or instructions may beexecuted by processing unit 1004. Storage subsystem 1018 may alsoprovide a repository for storing data used in accordance with thepresent invention.

Storage subsystem 1018 may also include a non-transitorymachine-readable storage media reader 1020 that can further be connectedto machine-readable storage media 1022. Together and, optionally, incombination with system memory 1010, machine-readable storage media 1022may comprehensively represent remote, local, fixed, and/or removablestorage devices plus storage media for temporarily and/or morepermanently containing, storing, transmitting, and retrievingcomputer-readable information.

Machine-readable storage media 1022 containing code, or portions ofcode, can also include any appropriate media known or used in the art,including storage media and communication media, such as but not limitedto, volatile and non-volatile, removable and non-removable mediaimplemented in any method or technology for storage and/or transmissionof information. This can include tangible computer-readable storagemedia such as RAM, ROM, electronically erasable programmable ROM(EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digitalversatile disk (DVD), or other optical storage, magnetic cassettes,magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices,or other tangible computer readable media. This can also includenontangible computer-readable media, such as data signals, datatransmissions, or any other medium which can be used to transmit thedesired information and which can be accessed by computer system 1000.

By way of example, machine-readable storage media 1022 may include ahard disk drive that reads from or writes to non-removable, nonvolatilemagnetic media, a magnetic disk drive that reads from or writes to aremovable, nonvolatile magnetic disk, and an optical disk drive thatreads from or writes to a removable, nonvolatile optical disk such as aCD ROM, DVD, and Blu-Ray® disk, or other optical media. Machine-readablestorage media 1022 may include, but is not limited to, Zip® drives,flash memory cards, universal serial bus (USB) flash drives, securedigital (SD) cards, DVD disks, digital video tape, and the like.Machine-readable storage media 1022 may also include, solid-state drives(SSD) based on non-volatile memory such as flash-memory based SSDs,enterprise flash drives, solid state ROM, and the like, SSDs based onvolatile memory such as solid state RAM, dynamic RAM, static RAM,DRAM-based SSDs, magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) SSDs, and hybrid SSDs thatuse a combination of DRAM and flash memory based SSDs. The disk drivesand their associated machine-readable storage media may providenon-volatile storage of machine-readable or computer-readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, and other data forcomputer system 1000.

Communications subsystem 1024 provides an interface to other computersystems and networks. Communications subsystem 1024 serves as aninterface for receiving data from and transmitting data to other systemsfrom computer system 1000. For example, communications subsystem 1024may enable computer system 1000 to connect to one or more devices viathe Internet. In some embodiments communications subsystem 1024 caninclude radio frequency (RF) transceiver components for accessingwireless voice and/or data networks (e.g., using cellular telephonetechnology, advanced data network technology, such as 3G, 4G or EDGE(enhanced data rates for global evolution), WiFi (IEEE 802.11 familystandards, or other mobile communication technologies, or anycombination thereof), global positioning system (GPS) receivercomponents, and/or other components. In some embodiments communicationssubsystem 1024 can provide wired network connectivity (e.g., Ethernet)in addition to or instead of a wireless interface.

In some embodiments, communications subsystem 1024 may also receiveinput communication in the form of structured and/or unstructured datafeeds 1026, event streams 1028, event updates 1030, and the like onbehalf of one or more users who may use computer system 1000.

By way of example, communications subsystem 1024 may be configured toreceive data feeds 1026 in real-time from users of social networksand/or other communication services such as Twitter® feeds, Facebook®updates, web feeds such as Rich Site Summary (RSS) feeds, and/orreal-time updates from one or more third party information sources.

Additionally, communications subsystem 1024 may also be configured toreceive data in the form of continuous data streams, which may includeevent streams 1028 of real-time events and/or event updates 1030, thatmay be continuous or unbounded in nature with no explicit end. Examplesof applications that generate continuous data may include, for example,sensor data applications, financial tickers, network performancemeasuring tools (e.g. network monitoring and traffic managementapplications), clickstream analysis tools, automobile trafficmonitoring, and the like.

Communications subsystem 1024 may also be configured to output thestructured and/or unstructured data feeds 1026, event streams 1028,event updates 1030, and the like to one or more databases that may be incommunication with one or more streaming data source computers coupledto computer system 1000.

Computer system 1000 can be one of various types, including a handheldportable device (e.g., an iPhone® cellular phone, an iPad® computingtablet, a PDA), a wearable device (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounteddisplay), a PC, a workstation, a mainframe, a kiosk, a server rack, orany other data processing system.

Due to the ever-changing nature of computers and networks, thedescription of computer system 1000 depicted in the figure is intendedonly as a specific example. Many other configurations having more orfewer components than the system depicted in the figure are possible.For example, customized hardware might also be used and/or particularelements might be implemented in hardware, firmware, software (includingapplets), or a combination. Further, connection to other computingdevices, such as network input/output devices, may be employed. Based onthe disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skillin the art will appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement thevarious embodiments.

In the foregoing specification, aspects of the invention are describedwith reference to specific embodiments thereof, but those skilled in theart will recognize that the invention is not limited thereto. Variousfeatures and aspects of the above-described invention may be usedindividually or jointly. Further, embodiments can be utilized in anynumber of environments and applications beyond those described hereinwithout departing from the broader spirit and scope of thespecification. The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to beregarded as illustrative rather than restrictive.

In the foregoing description, for the purposes of illustration, methodswere described in a particular order. It should be appreciated that inalternate embodiments, the methods may be performed in a different orderthan that described. It should also be appreciated that the methodsdescribed above may be performed by hardware components or may beembodied in sequences of machine-executable instructions, which may beused to cause a machine, such as a general-purpose or special-purposeprocessor or logic circuits programmed with the instructions to performthe methods. These machine-executable instructions may be stored on oneor more machine readable mediums, such as CD-ROMs or other type ofoptical disks, floppy diskettes, ROMs, RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magneticor optical cards, flash memory, or other types of machine-readablemediums suitable for storing electronic instructions. Alternatively, themethods may be performed by a combination of hardware and software.

Where components are described as being configured to perform certainoperations, such configuration can be accomplished, for example, bydesigning electronic circuits or other hardware to perform theoperation, by programming programmable electronic circuits (e.g.,microprocessors, or other suitable electronic circuits) to perform theoperation, or any combination thereof.

While illustrative embodiments of the application have been described indetail herein, it is to be understood that the inventive concepts may beotherwise variously embodied and employed, and that the appended claimsare intended to be construed to include such variations, except aslimited by the prior art.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method, comprising: obtaining, by a computingdevice, a domain model from a repository, the domain model includingmetadata corresponding to a set of domain data stored in the repository;generating, by the computing device, a database view of a subset of theset of domain data using the metadata, the database view including aquery statement referencing the subset of domain data; generating, bythe computing device, a class object for the subset of domain data usingthe metadata; generating, by the computing device, mapping informationby mapping the generated database view to the generated class object;and retrieving, by the computing device, the subset of domain data fromthe repository using the database view, the class object, and themapping information.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the metadata ofthe domain model defines one or more domain types and one or moreattribute definitions for the set of domain data stored in therepository.
 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising: generating aclass object and a database view for each domain type of the one or moredomain types.
 4. The method of claim 2, further comprising: receiving,by the computing device, a user query for the subset of domain data;determining, by the computing device, a domain type from the user query,the domain type corresponding to a domain type of the subset of domaindata defined by the metadata; determining, by the computing device, theclass object for the subset of data based on the domain type determinedfrom the user query; determining, by the computing device, the databaseview of the subset of data using the mapping information between theclass object and the database view; and performing a query on thedatabase view to retrieve the subset of domain data from the repository.5. The method of claim 4, further comprising: translating the user queryinto a structured query language statement using the class object,wherein performing the query on the database view includes performingthe structured query language statement on the database view to retrievethe subset of domain data from the repository; and outputting the subsetof domain data as a result of the user query.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the query statement is performed on the set of domain datastored in the repository to retrieve the subset of domain datareferenced by the database view.
 7. The method of claim 6, wherein thequery statement includes a structured query language statement.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the set of domain data is stored in therepository in a generic structure with no correspondence to the domainmodel, and wherein the database view represents the subset of domaindata as a virtual table with a specific structure corresponding to thedomain model.
 9. A system, comprising: a memory storing a plurality ofinstructions; and one or more processors configurable to: obtain adomain model from a repository, the domain model including metadatacorresponding to a set of domain data stored in the repository; generatea database view of a subset of the set of domain data using themetadata, the database view including a query statement referencing thesubset of domain data; generate a class object for the subset of domaindata using the metadata; generate mapping information by mapping thegenerated database view to the generated class object; and retrieve thesubset of domain data from the repository using the database view, theclass object, and the mapping information.
 10. The system of claim 9,wherein the metadata of the domain model defines one or more domaintypes and one or more attribute definitions for the set of domain datastored in the repository.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the one ormore processors are further configurable to: generate a class object anda database view for each domain type of the one or more domain types.12. The system of claim 10, wherein the one or more processors arefurther configurable to: receive a user query for the subset of domaindata; determine a domain type from the user query, the domain typecorresponding to a domain type of the subset of domain data defined bythe metadata; determine the class object for the subset of data based onthe domain type determined from the user query; translate the user queryinto a structured query language query using the class object; determinethe database view of the subset of data using the mapping informationbetween the class object and the database view; perform the structuredquery language query on the database view to retrieve the subset ofdomain data from the repository; and output the subset of domain data asa result of the user query.
 13. The system of claim 9, wherein the querystatement includes a structured query language statement performed onthe set of domain data stored in the repository to retrieve the subsetof domain data referenced by the database view.
 14. The system of claim9, wherein the set of domain data is stored in the repository in ageneric structure with no correspondence to the domain model, andwherein the database view represents the subset of domain data as avirtual table with a specific structure corresponding to the domainmodel.
 15. A non-transitory machine-readable medium storing a pluralityof instructions executable by one or more processors, the plurality ofinstructions comprising: instructions that cause the one or moreprocessors to obtain a domain model from a repository, the domain modelincluding metadata corresponding to a set of domain data stored in therepository; instructions that cause the one or more processors togenerate a database view of a subset of the set of domain data using themetadata, the database view including a query statement referencing thesubset of domain data; instructions that cause the one or moreprocessors to generate a class object for the subset of domain datausing the metadata; instructions that cause the one or more processorsto generate mapping information by mapping the generated database viewto the generated class object; and instructions that cause the one ormore processors to retrieve the subset of domain data from therepository using the database view, the class object, and the mappinginformation.
 16. The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein themetadata of the domain model defines one or more domain types and one ormore attribute definitions for the set of domain data stored in therepository.
 17. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein theplurality of instructions further comprise: instructions that cause theone or more processors to generate a class object and a database viewfor each domain type of the one or more domain types.
 18. Themachine-readable medium of claim 16, wherein the plurality ofinstructions further comprise: instructions that cause the one or moreprocessors to receive a user query for the subset of domain data;instructions that cause the one or more processors to determine a domaintype from the user query, the domain type corresponding to a domain typeof the subset of domain data defined by the metadata; instructions thatcause the one or more processors to determine the class object for thesubset of data based on the domain type determined from the user query;instructions that cause the one or more processors to translate the userquery into a structured query language query using the class object;instructions that cause the one or more processors to determine thedatabase view of the subset of data using the mapping informationbetween the class object and the database view; instructions that causethe one or more processors to perform the structured query languagequery on the database view to retrieve the subset of domain data fromthe repository; and instructions that cause the one or more processorsto output the subset of domain data as a result of the user query. 19.The machine-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the query statementincludes a structured query language statement performed on the set ofdomain data stored in the repository to retrieve the subset of domaindata referenced by the database view.
 20. The machine-readable medium ofclaim 15, wherein the set of domain data is stored in the repository ina generic structure with no correspondence to the domain model, andwherein the database view represents the subset of domain data as avirtual table with a specific structure corresponding to the domainmodel.